Pournelle does make some good points. He may be a Libertarian, but he's not dogmatic about it.

I think what Pournelle's arguing for is demand-side stimulus, in a roundabout way by supporting domestic employment. When people have work they have money to spend, which supports employment of their fellow citizens. Companies can raise capital easier when they can demonstrate a market; whereas supply-side stimulus like Bush's tax cut depends on the leap of faith that capitalists will invest in companies faced with declining demand. Capitalists are supposed to be cold-bloodedly rational, so why base an economic stimulus plan on the assumption that they'll invest irrationally?

Well, we could go around and around on that, just as we have many times before. I'd rather end on the positive note of Pournelle's words:

For a man to love his country, his country ought to be lovely; to ask a man to defend his country, or to send his sons to defend it, should imply some obligations of that country to the citizens.